Category Archives: Disability

Free Cerebral Palsy Sleep Resource

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The Northern Ireland Cerebral Palsy Register and Queen’s University Belfast are delighted to share with you our free resources on sleep and CP. These resources are the results of Dr Mary-Elaine McCavert’s PhD on sleep disturbances in children with CP and were created alongside children with CP and their parents thanks to the support of the John Glover Memorial Award. 

All three resources (including one for families and one for the GP core team) can be found and downloaded from here: https://www.qub.ac.uk/research-centres/NorthernIrelandCerebralPalsyRegister/Sleep-disturbances-Cerebral-palsy/ . For your convenience, we have attached the resource for educational staff. We hope this supports you and your pupils with CP, who may also have difficulties with sleep.  

Front cover of teacher resource about sleep and Cerebral Palsy - picture of yellow moon wearing a sleep hat with z z z sitting on purple clouds includes QUB logo and text "dear teacher please don't forget"

NI Rare Disease Partnership

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The Northern Ireland Rare Disease Partnership (NIRDP) are thrilled to introduce their newly devised education and upskilling programme, “Understanding Rare”. This initiative is designed to foster a deeper understanding and empathy towards the unique needs of the 1 in 17/110K individuals (many of which are children) living with rare diseases or conditions in Northern Ireland, and many of whom experience acute mental health/financial/work/housing or isolation needs alongside carers or family members who are also experiencing these challenges. Some of these “Rare Stories” can be found here

NIRDP understand that mental health providers and Helplines NI (of which we are also a member) play a pivotal role in offering support and guidance to these individuals. Therefore, we have crafted a free 1.5-hour remote learning Continuing Professional Development (CPD) session that aims to equip mental health or helpline and support staff with the necessary knowledge and skills to address their needs more effectively.

Through this short programme, participants will be better prepared to:

  • Understand the complex needs of those with rare diseases in our community.
  • Empathise with their unique challenges and experiences through the sharing of Rare Stories
  • Signpost more successfully to organisations like the NIRDP or other rare condition organisations, facilitating a network of comprehensive support.

NIRDP are pleased to inform you that this initiative is generously funded by the Community Foundation/DOH in Northern Ireland, a testament to the significance and potential impact of this programme. We kindly then encourage you to share this invaluable opportunity with your staff, colleagues, and those in your organisation responsible for supporting CPD initiatives. For further information or to express your interest, please do not hesitate to contact us directly or share this email with colleagues within or beyond your own organisation that may find this matter of interest, especially in training or HR departments.

 

 

Angel Eyes NI – Equality for Children with Vision Impairment

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All children have dreams and aspirations and we believe that blind and partially sighted children should have the same opportunities in life to achieve these as their fully sighted peers.  Angel Eyes NI supports parents to access early intervention family support services at the earliest stage in their child’s life.

Our aim is to provide parents and their families with the tools to make this possible and to enable their child to realise their full potential.  

Our Vision

Every blind and partially sighted child in Northern Ireland will have equal opportunities in life to fully achieve their dreams, aspirations and potential

Our Service

Angel Eyes NI offer a range of parenting/family support  services including signposting, education advocacy, advice, access to early years programmes including play groups, parent peer support, family outings and much more to support families with a blind or partially sighted child.

Contact Us

Angel Eyes NI

Innovation Factory

385 Springfield Road

Belfast, BT12 7DG

Telephone – 028 9590 2835 

Website: www.angeleyesni.org

 

NEW – Guide to help YOU on your journey through disability/additional needs

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CYPSP have launched a new regional guide for parents on their journey through disability at the Long Gallery, Parliament Buildings on Monday 22 May 2023.

This resource is a product from the recommendations of the ‘Our Journey Through Disability’ Report and highlights the ongoing partnership work with parents, parent groups, children and young people and statutory, voluntary and community agencies.

 

This resource is by parents for parents and its development has been parent led from the onset and addresses the whole life journey for parents of children with disability and additional needs.  Launched alongside this document, is the ‘All About ME’ booklet co-designed by Barnardo’s PosAbility Young Peoples’ Group.

This is a live resource which will be updated as new resources emerge.

Officially launching the Guide, we would like to thank Robbie Butler, MLA along with Oscar and BAFTA winner James Martin and his father Ivan who added some star quality to the launch with warm, witty endorsements and more importantly, encouraging progress on inclusion in Northern Ireland.  Finally a huge thank you to the parents and young people and Chris Scott from Education Authority who presented on the day – you were all amazing.

We encourage you to share this resource widely to enable us to reach as many parents as possible.

Download a copy of the resource at: https://tinyurl.com/YourJourneyGuide